The present invention relates to apparatus for cutting and scoring a dough sheet to separate the dough sheet into a plurality of individual biscuits, crackers, or the like. More particularly, this invention relates to rotating cylindrical cutters designed to act upon a constantly advancing sheet of dough that is moving beneath the cutter by a fabric conveyor belt.
Rotary cutters for this purpose are formed with scoring members arranged on the surface of a drum to divide the surface into a plurality of areas, each having the size and shape of a single biscuit or cracker. The dough sheet passing under the cutter is partially severed by the scoring members to mark out on the sheet many biscuit sized pieces. After the sheet of dough is baked, the baked sheet is broken along the score lines to produce the individual biscuits.
The biscuits, crackers, etc. produced with the use of such apparatus have been rectangular with sharp corners. Rotary cutters which are used for this shape biscuit are shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,887,964 and 3,880,030.